


light the way

by queen_abrin



Series: AFTG Bingo 2018 [5]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate AU, jean being sad and gentle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-27 05:22:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16696228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_abrin/pseuds/queen_abrin
Summary: jean thinks a lot about his soulmate, wherever and whoever they may be.written for AFTG Bingo 2018, for Jerejean Card Free space





	light the way

**Author's Note:**

> My au is based on a lot of stuff ive seen and cant find the link for at the moment ill put them in later maybe.  
> \- soulmates are indicated by the line on their wrist which matches their soulmate's hair color. it can change.  
> \- you can hear your soulmates humming/singing faintly.  
> \- you dream of your soulmate's life and stuff.
> 
> Inspired by Lava Lamp by Cuco, which I recommend listening to while you read  
> Follow me on tumblr over on @storyalchemist

The morning of Jean’s eighteenth birthday, he woke up with a stripe of light brown on his wrist and an echo of a song he did not recognize sung by a voice he had never heard before.

Birthdays were not generally celebrated at the Nest, sometimes pairs would be allowed to go out together if they had been doing well during practice and classes. Eighteenth birthdays were few and far in between, as most people who came to the Nest had already turned eighteen. 

Jean, however, had been at the Nest since he was thirteen. The moment he stepped out of his room Riko was already there, hand held out expectantly. Cold fingers seized his wrist and pulled it into the light of Riko’s phone flashlight. They both stayed quiet, Jean perfectly still. He was pretty sure none of the other Ravens’ hair colors matched, not perfectly. He’d racked his memory as he showered, pushing down the sickness in his stomach. The queasiness was part relief that it wasn’t the black hair that was sometimes matted with sweat and blood after Jean had been disobedient, part shock that he even had a soulmate, and part fear for that soulmate. He was sure Riko would find a way to punish whoever it was if Jean stepped out of line, even though the brown of his wrist was such a nondescript color. 

To his surprise, Riko merely dropped his wrist and walked away, pushing Jean out of the way. He nearly collapsed from relief. It was so much better than he had hoped.

Jean’s wrist changed colors for the seasons. It often turned more golden brown during the summer and darkened again during winter. Deep, deep inside him, he was happy his other half was able to go out and spend so much time in the sun in the summer, enough that it would lighten their hair. His own hair stayed the same dark brown under the red rights of the Nest. His dreams comforted him when his waking time terrorized him. He dreamt of a house in a suburb, evenings spent at a warm beach and riding bikes through lush neighborhoods. Warmth from embraces and the sun on his face. The only thing that marred these lovely dreams was that somewhere his own soulmate must see his own pain in the nighttime.

He'd often hear singing, in the same voice, mostly in the morning. He guessed whoever his soulmate was sang in the shower. He began to construct his soulmatein his mind. Were they male or female? Where were they? 

One time, when he was 20, the stripe turned a light blonde overnight, which worried him. Had something happened to his soulmate? If your soulmate died was their place taken by another? He still caught random bits of song in the quiet moments, dreamt of lovely days far away. The comfort brought by these quelled his panic. However, fear troubled him for a week, until the stripe turned back to its original color. 

One night he dreamt badly, of a deep and overpowering pain. Loss. His soulmate was grieving. He wasn't sure over what, but he wanted to be there so bad. He woke, but the pain stayed with him as he stared into the shadowed ceiling. His heart ached, he was too far away to do anything about the other’s suffering. Except.

Quietly, in the heavy darkness and quiet of his room (his roommate had gone to spend the night in someone else’s bed) he hummed. It was an old song, slow and lingering and little sad, pulled from somewhere deep in the memories of his childhood. He had long ago forgotten the words, but the tune stayed with him. Slowly, the pain lessened and he drifted into sleep.  
***  
One of the ends of Jean’s wrist line turned blonde. A girl on the team told him his soulmate had bleached the tips of their hair. He didn’t understand the meaning or purpose behind it, but it scared him that his soulmate was just a little more recognizable, easier for Riko to find. Sensing Jean’s distress, the girl told him that it was a common fashion trend among people their age at the moment. His shoulders relaxed, but only slightly.

He dreamt of weirder things now, nights spent dancing and mornings spent over a greasy pile of food. He knew this meant is soulmate was in college now, like him, but has no clue as to which one it was. He felt the other's pride over good grades and a win on a sports team, and for a moment he imagined it was Exy. It wouldn't be impossible, the gear covers wrists and hair. He felt concern when he dreamt of a particularly wild night and often wished there was some way to communicate with the other.  
***  
Jean was in hell. Every muscle, bone, and tendon in his body screamed with every breath he took. He closed his eyes, waiting for sleep to take him. Slowly, in the quiet of Abby's guest room, he heard soft singing. He instantly knew how it was, and his heart ached. His pain seemed to vanish and for a moment, he was safe.  
***  
He felt better than he had before, but that wasn’t saying much. The fact that he was still alive was as surprising each morning as it had been the last. The fact that he was free was more euphoric every time he thought about it. He tried not to think about it too much, for these thoughts brought a bout of panic and queasiness along with them.  
***  
When Jean saw Jeremy Knox without a helmet, wearing jeans and a tank top, smiling easily, he was sure he was hallucinating. Jeremy's frosted tips were matched perfectly with the stripe on his wrist. When he introduced himself he recognized the voice that had sung him to sleep at his darkest time. When they shook hands, he spied the stripe of dark brown on the other’s wrist. He said nothing, but Jeremy smiled at him as if he had never seen anything more lovely in his life. 

Jean stared up at the shadowed ceiling, warmth wrapped around him. He felt the rhythmic rise and fall of Jeremy’s chest on his side as he carded his fingers through the hair mirrored on his wrist. He didn’t dream much anymore, but when he did it was the memories he and Jeremy had made together. Jeremy would often burst into song in his head while Jean was trying to study.

He had asked Jeremy what that week of bleach blond hair was. 

Jeremy flushed,which made Jean smile slightly "You saw that?

Jean nodded, "I thought something happened to you."

The other sighed. "One of my friends bleached my hair at a sleepover, we were going to dye it blue but the bleach smelled super bad and I chickened out."

Jean chuckled quietly.  
"Don't laugh! We had to shave it off, it was so bad." 

Jean closed his eyes, smiling faintly. Finally, he was home.

**Author's Note:**

> This will probably a two parter cause i want to try writing Jeremy's POV


End file.
